Review of Just Die

[Caron Burk]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Just Die" by E Alan Fleischauer.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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"Just Die" by E Alan Fleischauer

Just Die by E Alan Fleischauer is about a man, Jake Silver, who wakes up after a stroke and finds he has the power to kill people simply by pointing at them and saying “just die.” Although rich, Jake is an ordinary person suddenly thrust into an extraordinary situation. He has just sold his business for millions of dollars and is happily engaged to the lovely Beth Ann. This new power will change the course of his life.

I enjoyed this book because there were some twists that I wasn’t expecting and I love twists in a thriller. There are no dull sections. New characters are introduced throughout the story and there is a steady stream of action. I liked the characters. There is a variety of personalities with unique characteristics: the devious drug addict, the foul-mouthed fiancée, the gracious retired pro-football player, and the vengeful chief of police are a few. I enjoyed getting to know them. I laughed at their antics. Also, I had compassion for them and I was drawn into their traumas and rejoiced with them in their successes.

Just Die raises the moral question: when, if ever, is it okay to kill someone if the chance of getting caught is miniscule? It challenged me to review my convictions on the topic and I liked this. It’s not often that a thriller makes me question a moral belief and it added another layer of interest to the story. I could see how the life experiences of each character resulted in the actions they took. Based on my experiences, I think I know how I would respond, however, until I am in the situation, I really can’t be sure what I would do. Jake was suddenly in the actual situation and he had to decide quickly how to handle it.

I did not like the excessive use of profanity. For some characters it was natural to use in their dialogue, however, for others it was not needed and I’m not sure why E Alan Fleischauer chose to put it in. It seems that the author defaulted to profanity rather than come up with original descriptions and phrases to make his point. The book was professionally edited by two people so I was surprised at the number of punctuation errors.

I am rating this 4 out of 5. I liked the action, the twists, the moral question, the characters and the pace. I did not like the amount of profanity and punctuation errors. I recommend Just Die to anyone that likes a thriller with an original story line, a lot of action and some unexpected twists.

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Just Die
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